To hit where it hurts
by winchestergirl27
Summary: Toby leaves to find answers but when A is around nothing goes as planned. Spoilers for almost all the seasons including season 3.
1. Chapter 1

Summary : Toby leaves to find answers but when A is around nothing goes as planned. Spoilers for almost all the seasons including season 3.

There will a bit of Toby whump in the upcoming chapters.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars or Toby or in that case any other PLL character. :(

When Spencer ran towards Toby and he pulled her into an embrace she thought that it would last for ever. Mona was behind the bars in a sanatorium and Toby had gotten over his jealousy. She thought about everything that had happened over the year. She thought everything was over and A was gone for good but that didn't last for long. Her life now was a mess and she was taking her relationship to an early grave. As she sat in her room going over Toby's words she couldn't help but regret ever knowing Alison. Aria and Ezra were the only ones who were still together. Caleb and Hanna had broken up, Maya was dead and her own relationship with Toby was … well … complicated.

He had left Rosewood in search for answers and Spencer knew that the closer he got to getting them more in danger will he be. A would not have anything on Toby as he was one of the most honest people therefore A would try to get rid of him. She thought of the last five months, they were just like a dream and she knew that it was too good to last long. The night when they found Emily at Alison's grave she knew that the good times had come to an end but she did not predict that her relationship would suffer again at the hands of her nemesis. She wanted to blame everything on A but she knew that this time she was almost equally responsible for driving Toby away.

"Spencer" Hanna's voice broke her chain of thoughts. Hanna had been coming over a lot as she was terrified regarding the blood test and she also needed someone to talk to.

"I'm in my room Hanna" Spencer yelled back.

"I'm totally freaking out" Hanna said making her way across the room "What if I get caught and convicted?"

"You will neither be caught nor convicted" Spencer replied in an effort to calm Hanna's nerves.

"Are you alright? You are looking awfully pale." Hanna observed

Spencer had the urge to assure her friend that she was fine but she too wanted someone to talk to "Toby is out searching for 'answers' and I am worried that he might get hurt"

"You think he 'might'… Spencer A is gonna hurt Toby one way or the other"

"Now you are freaking me out Hanna"

"Alright then, how many people who tried to find answers were left unharmed? Dr. Sullivan's son was in danger, Caleb's mother was in an accident, I got hit by a car and Maya is dead. What more do you need to know to be sure that Toby is already in danger."

"You are right but what do I do now? I can't tell Toby everything as it would mean revealing all my dirty secrets and yours too and also I am not very sure just how much more our relationship can take." Spencer was exhausted, she had spent all day thinking about Toby and A and now after her conversation with Hanna she felt even more drained. She thought about what Hanna had said and realised that she was right. She needed to get through to Toby and give him something. But he was not responding to her calls or messages. She hadn't had a good night's sleep for a long time and she missed the warmth of his arms around her. She felt extremely safe when he was around and his scent had a very comforting and calming effect on her. These thoughts depressed her so Spencer got up from her bed and walked towards the window to get some air when her cell rang. She bent to pick it up and saw Emily's name flashing on the screen and picked up the call.

"Hello … What?"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I still do not own PLL or any of the character.

The events in this this chapter happen one day prior to the events in the first chapter.

Toby sat in the truck and wondered how exactly he might get the answers he was looking for and by now he was dubious if he even knew the right questions. He was not exactly angry at Spencer he was just too worried about her. She was and always would be the love of his life and he just couldn't carry on being lied to by her. He was done with all the lying and deception, he had spent a lot of his life being blamed for crimes he did not commit. Even today people looked at him fear and loathing. From the day Spencer came into his life all those things bothered him lesser by the day and at last he felt as if he had everything he wanted. He had his own place even though it was temporary, a good job and a very beautiful girlfriend. And he was ready to go to any extent to keep her safe.

He had to find out more about Mona but he had no clue where to start. It was like a big puzzle and he only knew a few bits and pieces and it was hard to put them all together without more information. He thought of talking to Dr. Sullivan as she knew all about the mess but he doubted the possibility that she would reveal any information. So after a lot of debate Toby decided to sneak into her office and get the files. It was risky but he knew that Spencer was worth it. Once he arrived at the office he easily broke in and luckily Dr. Sullivan had not installed any security system yet. He headed straight towards the drawers and as he was looking through the folders he heard some foot steps. He hid behind the couch though it was not the best hiding place but that was all he could manage in the limited time he had. Toby knew that he was gonna get caught but the question was by whom? He heard step approaching him and his heart was beating hard against his chest. All the possibilities flashed through his mind. What if he got caught and was put behind bars? Could he go through all that humiliation again? And majorly how would Spencer react. He felt a figure someone staring down at him and he turned back to face it.

"Toby?"


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own PLL and this is like rubbing salt over my wounds. :(

And while writing them I dint realise exactly how small my chapters were so I am gonna upload at least two chapters at a time.

Please read and review. Criticism is welcome.

_He felt a figure someone staring down at him and he turned back to face it._

_"Toby?"_

"Dr. Sullivan" Toby said feeling a bit relieved.

"What are you doing in my office at this hour?" Dr. Sullivan asked Toby and she looked a bit scared.

Toby got up from his hiding spot and dusted his clothes. He knew he was in trouble unless he could come up with a good explanation. Being the honest guy he was Toby decided to tell Dr. Sullivan the real reason he was at her office. He told her everything about his relationship and how it was suffering due to all the A business. The doctor observed that Toby looked worn out and she couldn't help but sympathize with him. He was the one that brought her back to rosewood after A drove her out, she did owe him that and she also felt that Toby deserved to be happy. The kid had been through a lot at a very young age. The way to Rosewood was long and stories kept flowing. Toby had told her about his traumatic experiences and she was glad that he could open up to her. Therefore she handed him the files despite the fact that what she was doing was very unethical.

"You can use my desk, if you please."

"Thank you Dr. Sullivan you have no idea how much this means to me." Toby picked up the files and headed towards the desk.

"These files contain very intimate information about the girls. I hope that you keep this information to yourself."

"You do not need to worry about that." Toby replied with a slight smile and went back to the files.

Dr. Sullivan too grabbed the files she wanted and took her place on the couch. Toby read each file carefully and the pieces of puzzle soon began to make sense. By the time Toby was done reading all the files he felt immense respect for the girls and the way they handled the curve balls A threw towards them but at the same time he was furious that his Spencer had to go through all that trauma just because a psycho wanted to play some sick twisted games. Right then he wanted to run to Spencer and pull her into a tight hug and tell her that he will always be there for her. But now he knew almost all of their secrets and that just motivated him to find out more about this A. He thought of visiting Mona but that had to wait.

He thanked Dr. Sullivan again and left her office. He got into his truck and headed towards the site he was working at, it was four in the morning and he had one and a half hour to reach there. All the way he thought about Spencer and the girls. Sure they treated him as a freak earlier but now he was comfortable with them. Emily was the first one to talk to him and she had been incredibly nice to him when people would change lanes if they saw him. Emily was one of the very few friends he had while Hanna and Aria had accepted him too. He knew a lot about the girls and he felt a bit guilty that he went through their information. He wondered what Spencer would say if he ever told her about this. Toby hated keeping stuff from Spencer but he could not tell her that he read everything about her friends too. Once he got to the site he pushed away all the thoughts and concentrated on the work at hand. But he kept thinking about calling Spencer and making sure if she was alright after all he had neither attended any of her calls after their fight nor replied to her messages. He wanted to comfort her and tell her that everything will be alright but after finding out all that he himself wasn't sure if everything was ever gonna be alright. He decided to meet her after he was done with his work. But yet the most important question remained unanswered that if Mona was gone then what exactly was bothering Spencer? He had to find out more but he had to meet Spencer as soon as possible he could no more take being away from her.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own PLL.

Toby got off work earlier than he had expected and headed towards his truck. He thought of meeting Spencer straight away but then he looked at himself in the rear view mirror and decided to go to his pad first clean up a bit and then go over to Spencer's place. He had had a long day and night and almost no sleep. On his way he thought about the happy times, the five months they had spent together with no interference from A.

He hated Mona as she was responsible for their last break up and also the one responsible for all the pain and suffering Spencer had to go through. He could not wait to meet Spencer. So he drove a bit faster than usual. He looked at his phone for a moment and in the net he saw a car speeding towards him. It all happened in a matter of a few seconds. Before his mind had time to process anything the car collided with the truck. The car hit on the truck on the driver's side and Toby got the chance to look at person in the car. After that all he felt was red hot pain.

Emily had just finished her shift and was heading home when she saw the collision take place. She identified Toby's truck but she couldn't take a good look at the car that had hit him. The shock wore off in a minute and Emily ran towards the wreck which was once Toby's truck. Emily called 911 for help and tried to get a good look at Toby. He was lying unconscious among the twisted metal.

She sat there till the ambulance arrived, she had tried hard to push the thoughts away but all she could think of was Maya in the body bag. She hoped with all her heart that Spencer would not have to go through the pain she went through after Maya and Toby had always been a great friend to her and she was not ready to lose another person in her life. Her thoughts were interrupted by the loud noise of sirens in the background. She was still sitting at the same spot. A paramedic came up to her and asked her if she was hurt, she could not manage to even utter a word so she just nodded. The other paramedic was trying to get Toby out of the car. It took them a lot of effort to get Toby out of the mess and put him on a gurney. Emily followed the ambulance in her car. With shaking hands she picked up her phone and called Spencer. The phone rang twice and she heard Spencer's voice.

"Hello" Spencer greeted Emily

" Spence…" She took a deep breath and blurted out "Toby just got into an accident and I am at the hospital with him. You gotta hurry."

"What"


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own the show or any of the characters.

This chapter is longer than the my usual chapters.

Spencer could hardly believe her ears. She processed the information she received and before she realised her knees buckled out and she on the floor sobbing. Hanna was beside her in a second. Spencer Hastings was a strong girl and there were very few incidents when Hanna had seen her friend crying. She couldn't figure out what to say or do to console Spencer. So she started went ahead and asked the question that was bothering her.

"What's wrong Spence?"

"It … it was Emily … she said Toby was in an accident" Spencer managed to say between sobs.

"Don't worry, he will be fine and everything will be just alright" Hanna tried to console Spencer but it dint seem to work instead she started crying harder. This was what Spencer was afraid of. After Toby had fallen off the scaffolding she had spent a lot of nights awake in her bed trying to make sense of all these games. And she had also promised herself that she will not let A hurt Toby ever again. Spencer felt broken and helpless; all she could do to release her feelings was cry. A had made her life miserable. The urgency in Emily's voice had alarmed her and she had thought of the worst that could happen. Spencer knew that it was very easy for A to kill people and by now she was sure that whoever it was had no soul or heart. After a while when Spencer's tear glands were practically empty, she took a deep breath cleaned her tear strained face, collected her bag and keys.

"Hanna, I'm gonna head towards the hospital." saying that Spencer walked out of the door.

"Wait, I am so not gonna let you go alone. I'm coming too." Hanna ran behind Spencer.

The ride to the hospital was very calm both the girls had various things on their mind. Spencer's heart was beating so fast that it hurt. She tried hard to calm herself but she just couldn't help but think of the various possibilities. Spencer felt that it was all her mistake and she was the one responsible for what Toby was going through. If it wouldn't have been for her Toby would have been left out of A's sick games. For a moment she thought that maybe it wasn't A who made this happen. She was so messed up, there Toby was in the hospital and here all she hoped was that it was not A who did it. Her phone buzzed and Spencer took a look at the screen, it was an unknown number so she knew who it was.

Hey Spencer, I guess you heard that

your lover boy is back in town with a BANG!

-A

Spencer had a strong desire to throw her cell out of the car. Instead she calmed herself and drove into the hospital's drive way. As soon as she was done parking the car Spencer launched out and made her way towards the reception desk and Hanna followed her closely. Spencer was about to approach the middle aged woman on the desk when she ran into Emily who was making her way towards the coffee machine.

"Em, where's Toby?" Spencer asked without sparing a breath.

"He is still in surgery and Jenna id here with their parents" Emily warned her.

"Then I guess it will be better if we wait right here" Hanna suggested.

Spencer was in no mood to confront Jenna so she considered Hanna's suggestion and decided that it was the best thing to do. She headed over to the nearest chair and slumped down on it. She was getting more and more worried about Toby's condition as the time passed.

Emily sat uncomfortably across Jenna and Mr. and Mrs. Cavanaugh. If looks could kill Emily would have been dead by now. Jenna was giving her death glares from the minute she had walked in. Mr. and Mrs. Cavanaugh on the other hand were pretty kind to her. The doctor exited the operation theatre still clad in his scrubs and asked for Toby Cavanaugh's family. All the four occupants of the waiting area bolted his way.

"How is my son?" Mr. Cavanaugh asked the doctor before Jenna could say anything.

"I think you should have a seat first" the doctor said pulling a chair for him "I am Dr. Evans and I operated on your son."

"Alright Dr. Evans now tell us how Toby is?" Jenna asked a bit agitated

"Well, he was brought in with three broken ribs and a punctured lung which we have repaired but due to heavy blood loss he went into shock. We lost him twice on the table. He also broke his right arm and his left ankle. We have stabilized him for now but we will have to monitor him for the next 48 hours. He is unconscious now but you can go see him once he is transferred to the ICU." Dr. Evans stood up gave them a sympathetic smile and left.

The doctor had made it very easy for them to understand and Spencer had come around the corner just in time to hear the doctor inform them about Toby's condition. The words shock 'shock', 'heavy blood loss' and 'lost him twice' were still echoing in her head. If she was scared before the now she was petrified. She felt tears welling up in her eyes but she was a big girl so she held back the tears and assured herself that Toby will be alright. She wanted to get her hands on that bitch A. She wanted to find out who A was and kill it with her bare hands. But there was nothing she could do, she was utterly powerless. She felt like a puppet and her strings were in A's control. Spencer resumed her seat away from the Cavanaughs and hoped that Toby would be alright. She wondered how her life would have been without A but then she only met Toby because of that twisted psycho. Spencer scoffed at the irony.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Neither the series nor the characters belong to me.

Jenna was now accompanied by Noel Kahn and the level of the awkwardness had considerably increasing. Emily wanted to leave the place but she stayed put for both Toby and Spencer. The waiting area was now occupied by just the three of them as Mr and Mrs Cavanaugh were in Toby's room. Jenna suddenly broke down crying and Noel was trying hard to console her.

"It's all because of you and your friends" Jenna cried furiously.

Emily was taken aback by this accusation and watching Jenna cry was not as satisfying as Emily thought it would be and before she could say anything Jenna walked to her and slapped her across the face.

"Why don't you leave my brother alone?"

Jenna yelled at Emily while she stood there surprised by the slapped. Hanna had walked in just in time to see Emily get slapped by Jenna. Hanna shoved Jenna away from Emily.

"You stay away from my friend" Hanna warned Jenna.

"From the day you have stepped into Toby's life he has been the target of A" Jenna yelled at the two liars in front of her "Haven't you put him through enough?"

Hanna was infuriated by the comment and in rage she yelled back at Jenna "I think it is better if we do not go into the details of who put Toby through what" There was an eminent challenge in her obnoxious tone.

All this while Noel just stood there like a mere spectator and Emily observed that he was uncharacteristically calm, like he knew everything or maybe even more than they did. Hanna and Jenna were still trying to stare each other down when Emily decided that it was enough and grabbed Hanna by the arm dragging her down the hall to the coffee machine.

Emily always hated conflict and watching Hanna and Jenna fight was getting on her nerves. But it seemed to her that her friend was enjoying the whole fight.

"Hey, I was trying to get even there" Hanna said in an accusatory tone

"I hate her too but she is just worried about Toby" Emily's sympathy towards Jena amused Hanna.

"You don't need to be kind to her, she's not blind anymore. And she gave Toby hell by forcing herself upon him and all so she has no right to blame us." Hanna explained her point while getting herself some coffee. Emily sighed and did the same.

Spencer had a bad head ache and the hard hospital seat was making it worse. Hanna had left her side long back to check to on Emily and it was a relief. Not that she dint love Hanna but her continuous chatter did not go very well with the head ache. Spencer was now a powerhouse of numerous emotions and her adrenaline was slowly wearing off. It had been four hours since they had arrived and she was dying to see Toby. The information she received or rather overheard had positively disturbed her. The thought of losing Toby had shook her but she was confused as to exactly what did A want from her and what would A get by breaking her relationship. She was against someone who had a lot on her but she dint even know her enemy's identity. By now she had doubted everyone including her sister. Whenever Spencer and the girls thought that they were close to reveal who A was their hopes were shattered. A was always a few steps ahead of them and till now it had made them go through a lot of trouble. This, what they were experiencing was exactly the kind of stuff that nightmares are made of.

Spencer was tired of all this and the only way to end everything would be to find who A is. Spencer walked towards the coffee machine hoping that the coffee would make the throbbing in her head go away but on her way she saw officer Wilden questioning Emily about the accident.

"We found a car abandoned in an alley and looking at its condition we are assuming that it was the same car that hit Toby's truck." Wilden explained

"Then why dint you catch the driver yet? Whose car is it?" Spencer almost jumped at the officer

"Miss Hastings the car had been stolen and it was hotwired. The driver had abandoned the car and that is exactly why we couldn't arrest anyone" Wilden replied looking extremely irritated "Did you see the car last night?" He asked Emily

"No I couldn't, it was too dark."

"Alright and hope you girls are not lying again." With that Wilden left.

"Once a liar always a liar" Spencer said with a sigh

Emily put an arm around Spencer comforting her and said "Mr and Mrs Cavanaugh have left Toby's room and Jenna went home with them. So you still have some time before the visiting hours end."

"Thanks Em" Spencer said with a sad smile

She walked towards the door and pushed it open. Toby was lying there surrounded by various machines and wires. Spencer pulled a chair near the bed and took Toby's hand in hers. He looked so fragile and pale. Spencer was scared that she might not be able to see his beautiful blue eyes again. She ran her hand through his hair and planted a kiss on his forehead. She had missed him so much and she had hoped that when he returned to Rosewood it would be in one piece. But A wouldn't let any of her wishes come true.

"Toby, please don't leave me" Spencer said to the unconscious form before her with tearful eyes. "I am sorry for everything that happened and I know I shouldn't have lied to you but I was just trying to protect you from this. Please wake up, you know I need you." Spencer looked up as she heard the door open.

A nurse walked in and informed Spencer that the vising hour was over and she would have to leave. She reluctantly let go Toby's hand and placing a light kiss on Toby's cheek she exited the room.


End file.
